Genesis: God’s Word in Season to Us (Part 1)
By Ps Vernon Quek
One of the lessons I’ve learnt by being part of the Preaching Team over the years is that whatever book of the Bible we were preaching through at the time has been exactly what we as a church family needed to hear from God in that particular season. And I’m beginning to see that in our Genesis sermon series as well.
We chose Genesis as a natural follow up from Revelation – as a type of ‘going back to the beginning of things’ after we had seen the end of God’s Story.
We saw last Sunday how good and loving God is as He responds to the Fall – to sin entering into and ruining His very good Creation.
We clearly saw how God justly judges sin, yet still lovingly clothes Adam and Eve – sinners – with garments of skins[1]. God does not change. His actions at the very start of Creation reflect His never-changing heart to cover the shame of sinners, but that a sacrifice is required to do so. Remember what we saw in Revelation?
‘The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments,
and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.’[2]
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these,
clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.[3]
From Genesis to Revelation, our God again and again shows His never-changing commitment to covering our sin and shame – dealing with them ultimately by sacrificing Himself as the Lamb for us.
Isn’t that exactly what we as the Zion Bishan church family need to know and remember in this season? As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, isn’t this the most important thing we need to keep in our minds and hearts – the love of our God in Jesus and His mission to bring lost sinners to Himself through the Lamb.
As we continue making our way through Genesis, and as our 30th Anniversary draws closer, may we not only see God’s never-changing heart for sinners to be clothed with the blood of the Lamb, but may we at Zion Bishan have that very same self-sacrificial heart for the broken world around us!
[1] Genesis 3:21
[2] Revelation 3:5 – Jesus’ words to the church in Sardis
[3] Revelation 7:13-14
